Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relates to the art of a vehicle control system configured to switch an operating mode of a vehicle between manual mode and autonomous mode.
Discussion of the Related Art
JP-A-2011-235709 describes a vehicle control system configured to avoid an accident in every situation. To this end, the control system taught by JP-A-2011-235709 is configured to avoid the danger based on information from a plurality of devices. According to the teachings of JP-A-2011-235709, for example, the control system alerts the driver when a vehicle door is unlocked under a condition that a shift position is shifted to a position other than parking position, when the vehicle door is unlocked at a speed higher than a predetermined speed, and when a door of driver's seat is unlocked under a condition that the shift position is shifted to a position other than parking position or neutral position.
JP-A-2012-51441 describes an automatic operation vehicle control device configured to shift an operating mode between manual mode and an automatic mode. According to the teachings of JP-A-2012-51441, the operating mode is shifted from the manual mode to the automatic mode if a difference between an actual travel course and a target travel course is less than threshold value, and a manual operation of driver (i.e., and override) is not detected during automatic running.
The control system taught by JP-A-2011-235709 is applied to a conventional vehicle that is operated manually. The conventional vehicle can be stopped certainly by the driver if the driver is alerted by the control system taught by JP-A-2011-235709. However, the self-driving car as taught by JP-A-2012-51441 may not be stopped promptly or certainly even if the driver is alerted when the door is unlocked. For this reason, the conventional self-driving car may be started autonomously even in an unsuitable situation to start the vehicle.